


Pretending

by Quillpaw



Category: OFF (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-26
Updated: 2013-04-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 12:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/774430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillpaw/pseuds/Quillpaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"I guess it's better like that."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretending

He pretends he doesn't hear the Batter go down the stairs. He sits alone, beside the empty cat food dish, beside the blocks that sealed the entrance way, most definitely not straining to hear the murmured conversation beneath him. He pretends he doesn't hear her laughing. He pretends he doesn't hear the first swing of the bat strike flesh.

For a while he pretends he doesn't hear the deadly dance going on down below. He taps patterns in the unresponsive blocks, shuffles through his inventory, polishes bats, anything to block out the sounds that drift up to him.

Somehow, the silence that follows is worse. The Batter is ascending the stairs, and he can hear the trusted bat dragging at his side. She had always been a tough partner to dance with. For a few precious moments, as he gathers up his stock, he pretends that it's all a misunderstanding, that she was simply sedated, that she isn't gone yet.

The Batter spares no words for him; he doesn't have to. The blood on his bat is explanation enough. His expression is unchanged; there is no sadness, no regret, no apologies.

"..." He wonders if the Batter can see his jaw tighten behind his mask. His eyes sting and his cheeks flush unpleasantly, but there are far worse things in the world that he hasn't cried over, and the tears don't fall. It takes him only a few seconds to ensure his voice won't shake when he speaks, but they stretch on in an eternity of unspoken dialogue. "I guess it's better like that," he says simply, and his words ring just as hollow as the Batter's.

It is only after Zacharie is sure the Batter has left for another zone that he allows himself to break down and cry.


End file.
